The lower end of a candle has generally been tapered so as to fit into a variety of sizes of holders and to also center the candle in the holder which usually has a cylindrical straight cut well. In practice only a limited range of sizes of ends will fit a given size well and even then the end may be easily damaged allowing the candle to tilt when inserted into the holder with the consequent mess and fire hazard. Even when the bottom end of the candle is tapered the same problems are encountered.
Wrapping with paper has been practiced for years while others have provided a resilient cup such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,689,470 to Turner or a series of different sized cups that will fit on a candlestick as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,057,943 to Friedrichs. Both of these have required an auxiliary device sized to fit a particular candle end.
Other efforts have been directed toward trimming the end of the candle as it is inserted into the holder as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,393,767 to Gould. Anderson in U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,355 shows four triangular wedges in the bottom of the holder well which will tend to center the candle end in the holder but rely on cutting into the sides of the candle end to secure it in the holder. This obviously limits the number of times a candle can be inserted into Anderson's holder and tends to destroy the candle for use in any other holders. Since candles are frequently removed and reinserted into different holders this altering of the candle end has not been widely adopted.